Chris.Weekly.org - A Web Space

I haven’t gotten really excited about the Olympics since I was a little kid — and frankly I’m more interested in the NFL preseason than most of the events in China — but I have to say, the amount of high-quality footage available on http://www.nbcolympics.com/ is remarkable. There’s nothing on TV to compare to this (including on demand, Tivo/DVR, whatever), and it’s about time. This is what the web is all about: finding what you want when you want it, and finding interesting things you didn’t know you wanted. For example, with TV I never ever would have recorded — let alone sat through ads to watch — the men’s 4×100 free relay swim event. But watching this http://www.nbcolympics.com/swimming/news/newsid=194272.html#smashing+performance+u+s after reading the accompanying writeup sure got my adrenaline flowing.

In most contexts I dislike nationalism, it’s too fascistic, too easily used as a tool for harming people of other nations (see e.g. the etymology of the word “Nazi”) … but for these Olympics I’m temporarily putting aside my concerns about our Imperial ambitions and all that. Our kids are putting on a show and giving it everything they’ve got, and I’m psyched to be able to see it on my terms. So, go USA!